Flowers or chocolates?
by hope flies in rockets
Summary: Flowers or chocolates Dawsey? Just another conversation on route to patrol that give Captain James a chance to prove that maybe he does get involved.
1. Chapter 1

Everything belongs to the bbc.

"Flowers or chocolates Dawsey?"

"What?"

She looked across at Dangleberries and then at the rest of 2 Section who were apparently waiting for her solve this mystery. Of course if she had been listening to the conversation she may of had a better idea what they were on about but this would be the first patrol after Bashira had been taken from the village and the young girl was still very much at the forefront of her mind.

"Flowers or chocolates for Dangleberries to take to try and win his ex back when he gets home" Smurf supplied the background that she had been lacking.

"I think you're going to need more than that mate."

"No look girls love a man in uniform right, so add that to the relief that I'm not dead I'm onto a winner." Clearly he'd given this a lot of thought.

"You'd eat the bloody chocolates before you got back to Birmingham so I'd stick with the flowers. Although don't blame me if it all goes wrong, none of my ex's ever bought me flowers."

" No gentlemen in London Dawes?"

"No Sir, not round where I live at any rate".

"Well as entertaining as I'm sure recounting everyone's personal histories would be, we do have a job to do so listen in."

An uneventful patrol was welcome and there was no longer the complaints once they had returned of boredom, they had seen enough excitement in the last few days to make them thankful for a quiet run.

After debrief Molly went to make tea and wasn't really surprised to find Smurf waiting cup in had for her. She only hoped he'd realise that she would have done the same for any of them and would tone down his need to become her personal protector, she'd already got some stick of the rest of the guys for it earlier in the day.

"I'll buy you some flowers, soon as we touch down back home. "

"Smurph stop. I don't need any flowers, I wasn't complaining about the lack of flowers in my life and I don't need you to feel sorry for the girl from London who never had a decent life before she joined up."

The hurt flashing across his face was almost enough to make her stop but you had to be cruel to be kind. She stalked over to the medical tent under the guise of needing to check her kit. She didn't see Captain James exit the tent a minute before she arrived.

It had only been a month but she automatically moved around the small space checking supplies. Then she stopped. Sitting in the middle of the table was an open bottle of water with 5 small pink flowers that she knew grew on the road side near the village. How anyone had managed to get them back, mostly in tact but still a little battered was a small miracle. Her words to Smurf came back to her and she still stood by them, she didn't need flowers but the thought that someone had thought enough of her to find them out here was enough to make her feel she could fly home on the feeling alone.

She was smiling from ear to ear about what was probably a few weeds in a bottle, when she walked out of the tent and once again didn't notice James as he smiled to himself at Lady Luck once more smiling down on him and allowing him his moment.

**AN: A massive thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed my previous attempts, hopefully this one isn't too bad but the idea refused to go away and I had to give in. **


	2. Chapter 2

It had been three days since the makeshift vase of flowers had been placed in the Med tent and they were now starting to fade. Carefully Molly removed them from their bottle and dropped them carefully into an envelope with one of her sister's letters. Flower or weed, they were precious to her.

Still smiling she checked her kit in preparation for the patrol that afternoon and was amazing to find a single flower nestled in the top her kit bag. How anyone had got it in there without her knowing amazed her as much as the initial bunch of flowers had done. She topped up the water bottle and placed the single bloom in the fresh water and set it on the side. Looks like she'd have flowers for a little longer.

By the end of the week she'd found flowers in her breakfast bowl, in two deliveries of medical supplies, several had made their way into her kit bag. She began to wonder if the whole unit was in on it, but the questioning looks she got whenever anyone saw the flowers was enough to end that theory.

For James the game was only just beginning, finding places to hide the flowers was surprising easy, doing it without being spotted a little more difficult. But seeing Molly smile was more than reward enough for his trials. Obtaining the flowers was surprisingly easy, small flowers grew along the roadside and could be tucked with care into a pocket, the routines of the platoon when on patrol meant he knew when was the optimum time to pick a few without being spotted.

It would have been east to carry on in this fashion but fate had another plan in mind. They had received intelligence suggesting a group of insurgents were hiding out not far from their location and 2 Section were sent to investigate. Local knowledge took them on a circular route to an old check point passing by a field of soft pink and white flowers.

The check point showed signs of recent habitation but there was no contact and it looked like they had arrived too late. The mood was wary but cheerful on their return to base and Molly couldn't help but stop and take one last look at the blanket of flowers spread out around her.

"Admiring the view Dawes?"

"Why not Sir, it's a beautiful day and no one has tried to kill us yet"

"Didn't have you down as a stop and smell the roses kind of girl"

"Never had the opportunity have I? I'm a city girl to the bone, but this just grabs you,"

"Be that as it may, there is may be more than flowers here so keep your eyes open"

With one last look Molly moved on, her mind back on the job at hand.

The uneventful day had left 2 Section with energy to burn and Molly had climbed back to her rooftop hide away to avoid the run of pranks the lads were indulging in to pass the time. When night fell she still couldn't bring herself to drop back into the real world and stayed to watch the stars appear. It still amazed her that there were so many out there and she knew the night sky would be another of things she would miss when she was back home.

Finally when she could barely keep her eyes open she dropped to the ground and made her away towards her bed. She was aware enough to know that the rest of the unit may have left some trap for her and was cautious as she stepped into the tent.

What she saw was enough to make her breath catch in her lungs. In the moonlight she saw a single pink flower laid across her pillow.


End file.
